Fresh round of PM election from Feb 1

REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, Jan 27: Speaker Subas Nembang is likely to kick-start the process for majority-based government on January 31 and hold fresh round of voting to elect new prime minister on February 1 as successive meetings among the parties for formation of consensus government has failed to yield any result.

According to sources, Nembang will hold a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) at 1pm on Thursday to take a decision to this effect after receiving a letter from president Dr Ram Baran Yadav calling for a majority-based government the same morning.


President Yadav upon the request of the major parties had extended the deadline for formation of national consensus government till Wednesday.

While the parties may still form a consensus-based government, the election process will be held as per article 38 (2) of the interim constitution. Article 38 (2) of the constitution provides for a provision of electing a prime minister through majority in parliament.

“We will hold a meeting of the BAC in the afternoon after receiving a letter from the president, and fix the date for voting,” Nembang told Republica. Parliament secretariat sources said Nembang is likely to hold the third round of voting on February 4 in case the first two rounds fail to elect a new prime minister. “Nembang wants to speed up the process so that the country can get a new prime minister as soon as possible,” said a leader close to Nembang.

The amended version of the parliamentary regulations related to prime ministerial election states that all the candidates for the prime ministerial post shall compete in the first and second round of voting, but only two finalists will compete in the third round.

The process shall begin anew if none of the contenders secure a majority even after the three rounds of voting. As per the new provision, if two or more candidates are in the fray, lawmakers will have to vote for a candidate of their choice, but they will have no option to vote against any candidate.

The provision related to the prime ministerial election was amended in order to begin the process afresh as 16 rounds of voting held earlier had turned futile.